Crash.Net User: Don-R

Nice one, Foggy. Very well deserved in my opinion - he took everything they threw at him with great humour and won over the general public. He seems a much mellower person in retirement.
Good for him & good for bike racing too.

Just glad we finally get to see JR on competitive kit, so that those big questions about his true level of ability can finally be answered. It was beginning to look as though he might see out his career on the Fireblade, which would have been a real shame.

The Honda is built and developed around the shorter rider - Stoner, Pedrosa, Marquez etc. So as one of the shorter riders in the field, Cal should in theory fit into the profile of the archetypal Honda rider.

The more you hear about Sykes' treatment of Baz behind the scenes - closing off data, insisting that he be regarded as a number 2 rider etc. - the easier it is to understand Baz's actions. Loris can come across as something of a hothead on the track but Tom sounds like a complete diva off it.

Tech 3 is supposed to be an entry team for inducting riders into the class and seeing if they can make the grade and progress to factory kit. Cal stuck around for more than 2 years, and Edwards hung on a bit too, but generally all a rider can expect there are 2 years before moving on. There's simply too much talent coming through from the smaller classes now.

A crack to the knee doesn't have to be a major injury - hairlines fractures would still allow him to move normally unless there happened to be enough swelling to restrict joint mobility. It's an injury he might feel more acutely some time after the accident though.
Must have been some impact to do that kind of damage, despite knee sliders and reinforced knee pads in the leathers.

Yikes, those tweets from Sykes are just cringeworthy. Especially the one where he taunts Baz about his championship position. I don't remember Tom excelling in his first years in WSBK. And being upset because he couldn't win the championship off the back of team orders won't exactly win many fans.
Far better for TS to just suck it up and get ready to raise his game to deal with a much tougher team mate next year.

Not expecting miracles here. It took Cal a year to learn to ride the M1 and a year to figure out the Ducati. The Honda will have its own idiosyncrasies too, and it'll take a period of adjustment to get used to them.
A positive start though. He seems to at least like the feel of the bike, which is a big thing.

Not yet totally convinced about Scott. Tall, heavy rider (ie. not your ideal build for a Honda) and super-sensitive about set-up issues, which in the past have damaged his confidence and even wrecked whole seasons for him (2012).
The great quality about Redding - and what gives him an edge over the other Brits in the class IMO - is his racecraft. But I'll be interested to see how well he manages to set the Honda up to his liking this year.

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